Seraph had gone quiet again as we made our way along the base of the wall. When we turned the corner and his cage came into view, tucked just within the forest’s edge beside Mary’s old RV, he let out a weak bellow and smacked a hand against the glass.
A kernel of sympathy flared as we approached. This was no life for him—for anyone—but he was uncontrollable. Part of me didn’t think he’d ever get better while he was in there. I knew he wasn’t human, but that didn’t mean he was an animal. I’d seen moments of keen awareness in his eyes. I could tell that sometimes he did actually listen to Gloam.
I was positive that he wasn’t a mindless beast, but constant agony made him seem like one.
He screamed in pain when he’d just had a dose. He started shivering and groaning when his next one was nearing, when whatever was in those injections had begun wearing off. Whatever the military had done to make him like this, it seemed to be irreversible. He was dependent on whatever they had given him.
He was going to die.
I’ve already mentally prepared myself to kill the screaming, murderous monster in the cage outside our camp.
I’m used to it. It’s what I do here. Kill monsters and other people. And this monster, Seraph, is particularly unstable—has been since the moment he arrived from Collector Mary’s monster menagerie to the west, where the military stashed him away.
He’s in pain. I can see it. But he’s not a mindless beast. Not like some of the others think.
When I start guarding him in his cage every night, I begin to see the person beneath the agony that tortures his every waking moment. I begin to see who Seraph could have been if he hadn’t been twisted into this monstrous creature.
I realise that I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to kill him, even for his own sake, but it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s already dying, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Not even when new visitors at our raider camp bring with them secrets about Seraph. Secrets the military has tried to hide.
Secrets that reveal the true extent of the horror he’s been put through.
And now… Now, I will kill anyone who tries to hurt him again.
Seraph is Book Six of the Monstrous series, a post-apocalyptic m/m fantasy series that features monsters and human men falling in love. It is best to read the series in order.
Warning: This m/m love story contains explicit sexual content and is not suitable for young readers. It also contains non-human genitalia, depictions of violence, serious injury, death, and one instance of violence between the MCs.
Trigger warnings: Explicit sexual content; non-human genitalia; sounding; restraint; throatf*cking; MC with multiple eyes; mentions of family death; captivity; forced experimentation; former sex worker MC; graphic descriptions of on-page killing, injury and violence; mentions of cannibalism; insect- and spider-like monsters; brief mention of transphobia; one instance of violence between the MCs.
If there are any scenes you wish to skip, you can of course get in touch with me and I am more than happy to tell you where certain triggers take place.
LILY MAYNE 